Tag Archives: travel

Steve

Steve had been expecting us in Townsville for a couple of weeks, although he was a bit unsure of the exact date we would show up. Nina contacted him through Couchsurfing whilst we were in Indonesia and we somehow managed to arrive on the proposed date.

Steve worked in the mining industry as did so many of the people we met “along the track”. He also seemed to be a professional couchsurf host having welcomed over 200 people into his apartment in the last 12 months. Nina and I had a well earned shower and joined Steve and two other couchsurfers, Anna and Pauline, for our first square meal in days.

The following day Steve went off to work and Nina and I explored Townsville’s Botanical Gardens, traditional brewery and seafront walks before we cooked for the crew, this time joined by Steve’s brother Kevin. It was a great introduction to the east coast and after a couple of drinks we even had the brothers reciting patriotic poems and songs of Australia!

The next morning Steve gave us a little tour of Townsville and a view over the city from Castle Hill before dropping us at a suitable hitching point just out of town. We totally love couchsurfing and can’t wait to host travellers ourselves!

Thomas & Jonno

I’m still surprised at just how little time we had to wait in Australia before people pulled over to offer us a ride. It was no different leaving Townsville. I think 15 minutes, just enough time to eat a banana and take a quick leak, before Thomas pulled in.

Thomas was a nice enough lad. An Irishman looking for work. As we chatted about the type of work he was looking for it became apparent that a) he’d lost his wallet the previous day containing $3400 and b) he had no driving license and so was looking for cash-in-hand work. I felt Nina squeeze my left shoulder from the back seat and we implied that we weren’t going far…

It was only 204km to Bowen where we were meeting our next couchsurf host, Jonno. Jonno had originally agreed to host us in Rockhampton but as he was in Bowen that evening he invited us to join him and a group of fruit picking hippies at a campsite for a gathering. Thomas decided to take us all the way there and join in the fun that evening, although I’m pretty sure he was more hopeful of scoring weed that meeting people!

So we ended up sleeping with Jonno in Ginola’s tent after a communal meal, card games and a few late night drinks with mostly French and Italian fruit pickers.

Kevin (Steve’s brother)

This is where the journey gets quite funny. Whilst at Steve’s in Townsville we met Kevin who is Steve’s brother. Kevin offered to give us a ride the 717km south to Rockhampton when he returned home a couple of days later but we had already agreed to meet Jonno in Bowen. Jonno was returning to Rokhampton the following day so we would travel with him. Whilst with Jonno he changed his plans as an old girlfriend was in town and decided not to head back to Rocky.

Nina and I called Kevin, knowing that he was coming our way in the morning and no sooner had we awoken, brushed our teeth and packed up our bedding, Kevin had arrived at the campsite fresh from a 5am departure from Townsville. We were really glad to see kevin and his granddaughter. A couple of nights previous we had got to know each other whilst putting the world to rights and we were soon at it again chatting away in the car, only stopping for ice-cream on route, before being shown around the family home in Rockhampton!

vince (Kevin & Steve’s brother)

Who could belief that within three days we had stayed with and travelled with three brothers! Yes that’s what happened next. As we were coming into Rockhampton, Kevin’s brother Vince called to say he was in Rockhampton and would soon be heading down to Hervey Bay to meet “a friend with benefits”. Kevin immediately asked if he minded taking a couple of friends (which we were by now) the 400km south and Vince was happy to oblige, collecting us from Kevin’s house half an hour later.

Vince liked to talk. And I must say we were very interested. He was nothing like Kevin, who was nothing like Steve, but he was interesting in his own way. We got to hear about his time as a prison warden, his motivational speeches as a soccer coast, his opinions on health cures such as hydro peroxide and mega doses of vitamin C before he embarrassingly disclosed his new “before bed habit” which had recently replaced reading. He made us try to guess and then told us he was addicted to a computer game on his phone where he had to build up a farm!

We arrived at the turn off to Hervey bay, now in Childers. Nina and I decided to jump out and try the campgrounds advertised for backpackers as it was now dark and starting to spit with rain a little, plus it was better for the next days chances of hitching, hoping that we would make it all the way to Dulong the following morning.

Jamie & Scott

We drudged into the campgrounds at Childers to find row upon row of dorm style accommodation full of “twenty something” fruit pickers eager to do their time in the country for an additional year on their visa. It was a sorry site, looking more like the campsite on the last day of Glastonbury Festival. We snuck into the communal kitchen to make a sandwich but there was nowhere clean to prepare it, just an Italian skinning up on the bench.

We introduced ourselves to Alex and asked if people rent a bed or a dorm or what? He shot off to the next block and returned a couple of minutes later to say he had found us a bed even though the other boys in the room weren’t too happy about it. That’s when we met the boys from England, Jamie and Scott. They were paying $173 a week for a dingy dorm bed and were wary of us kipping on their spare mattress for the night. We got chatting and were sharing stories of our trip, their fruit picking adventures and a meal before the night was over. We were up with them at 5am the next morning and as they left for work we made our way to the edge of town.

warwick, harry & the Nun

From Childers we only had 218km to Nina’s family home in Dulong. It was ironic that we would stand waiting for the longest time in all our hitching days from England to Australia on the last leg of our journey. It was a fresh morning and we welcomed the sun on our backs as we stood for an hour grumbling at the locals who wouldn’t give us a second glance.

Warwick to the rescue! As always – it’s only a matter of time. Warwick pulled over in his big 4×4, towing a boat on route to a fishing trip on Rainbow Island with friends. They’d been planning it for months and as we drove he received calls on his mobile from friends trying to think of excuses for the girlfriends to allow them fishing. We heard all the stories about how he had a reoccurring illness and time with his mates was the best cure. Warren treated us to a coffee and homemade peanut cake then dropped us at a petrol station in Gympie.

We stepped out of the car and Nina popped in to use the ladies. As she did a man with a nepalese style hippy hoody emerged from the gents. I ran over to Warwick’s 4×4 as I thought I’d left the camera and as I walked back across the garage forecourt the hippy guy was chatting to a Nun in Tibetan buddhist attire. I only know one monastery in the area and it’s not too far from where Nina lives. They disappeared around the corner before Nina reappeared and when she did I said “quick there’s a Nun around the corner, maybe ask them if they’re going our way” and Nina shot off to catch them.

Nina asked if we could grab a ride with them and if they were going to Chenrezig Monastery. They asked Nina how she knew where they were going. Nina looked at the Nun. They told us to hop in and off we went.

The route to the Monastery took us to a turn off 8km from Nina’s family home and by this time Nina had been in touch with her Mum Christina who was super excited to see us and eager to collect us from somewhere. The Nun made us promise never to become a conservative and Harry dropped us at Palmwoods where we waited for Christina.

christina

As we hopped out of Harry’s people carrier Nina was starting to well up. We had been dropped off at the National Express bus stop by my parents 17 months ago in Thetford and it was quite fitting that Nina’s Mum would be there to collect us for the last leg of our trip.

We felt so surreal. All those months of travel, all the memories, the people, the places and adventures and now we had arrived, stopped. We waited for a while and Christina arrived for our final hitch to Dulong. It was an emotional reunion.

Thank you too all the folk who picked us up. Hitch hiking across Australia ended up being one of the highlights of our whole trip. It’s a great way to meet real people going about their normal life. We didn’t have a bad experience and actually only had good ones. Yes hitching is about saving money. It’s also about saving carbon. Most importantly though it’s about connecting with people. Maybe it’s easier as a couple as people feel less threatened but I believe it’s easy if you are open.

Every person that picked us up said that they do not usually pick up hitch hikers or that it’s the first time they picked up a hitch hiker and we feel hopeful that it won’t be the last. Since being home we have already collected hitchers and will continue to do so.

From a travel design perspective, hitchhiking, couchsurfing and the occasional bush sleep helped us to journey from Lombok in Indonesia, more than 5000km, over the course of 5 weeks, to Dulong in Queensland, for a total combined cost for accommodation and transport of $74. Who says budget travel is not possible in Australia?

“You can’t hitchhike across the outback” the scaremongers said. “Do you know how many backpackers go missing out there?” questioned the naysayers. “Why don’t you just fly”? we were asked my the conformists!

Well i’m sorry folks but we obviously didn’t take any notice of the warnings and just happened to have had one of the most memorable and enriching stints of our whole journey from Caston, Norfolk, England to Dulong, Queensland, Australia.

Joe

We rocked up at the BP petrol station in Darwin (A) about 11am last Monday. Nina had a quick pee while I guarded the bags. I noticed a chap walking towards the door and as I nipped in for the loo I said to Nina “just ask that guy if he’s heading south babe”.

As I emerged a few minutes later I saw Nina through the window gesturing me to hurry – isn’t it great when a stranger offers to give you a ride without having to stick out your thumb at the road!

Joe lived in an Aboriginal community. We spent five hours or so with him hearing about his early life at a prisoner of war camp in Yugoslavia, his views on the current political situation in the Northern Territory and the “holes” in Australia. The holes he’s referring to are the mines. “Dotted everywhere” he said. He even pulled in to Pine Creek, famous from the gold rush to give us a glimpse of an old mining town. We stood up at the lookout and peered down into a lake 135m deep where a mountain of the same height used to sit.

Joe dropped us in Mataranka (B), 422km south of Darwin. With only an hour or so of daylight left we decided to stay the night and walked into a camp ground. We’d sent our tent and sleeping bags home from Cambodia thinking we wouldn’t need them and so asked the staff if they had any spares but in the end laid out our ponchos for some kind of damp-proofing and squeezed ourselves into the one replacement bag we’d bought in Darwin. It was a cold cold night. We got a little sleep and were up with the sun to try for the hitch south.

Aaron

As we walked from the caravan park to the centre of the village we spotted a road train parked up for the night. Nina joked that it would be cool to ride in one as they look so invincible. This one was facing Darwin though and so we stuck out a thumb as the sun came up.

A couple of minutes later a guy appeared from the truck eating a bowl of multicoloured cereal. I wandered over for a chat.

“Morning mate. Heading up to Darwin are ya?”

“Nah mate. Turnin’ round, heading down to Adelaide”

“Ah yeah. Don’t spose you can take a couple hitch hikers can ya?”

“Yeah no worries. I can drop you off at Alice anyways. Just gotta wait for fuel and check me tyres. Chill out for a bit.”

Aaron’s road train was 52 meters long and had a weight limit of 122 tonnes. The road trains travel a fairly constant 100 kmph and usually don’t break for kangaroo’s. Aaron had a fridge, freezer, microwave, fishing rod and a DVD player amongst other things but there was only one spare seat which meant Nina got to ride on the bed.

Aaron was an Adelaide boy. A picture of his wife and daughter faced him from the sun visor. He sees them once a week if he is not away for longer. He was a nice guy working hard for his family.

We travelled for 6 or 7 hours with Aaron, 542km south to the Three Ways Roadhouse (C), the turning point east for Queensland. I was amazed by the beauty of the scenery, the red soil, the termite cathedrals, the subtle changing flora. It was so alien to me and so interesting. The odd ute, truck or caravan passed us by but otherwise it was a very peaceful place.

We arrived at Three Ways Roadhouse at about 15.30, keen to keep moving. We met Charles there on his way to Brisbane but he was jammed full. We walked around the corner onto the Barkley highway and out went the thumb in hope of a few more km before the day was out.

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Norman

Meeting Norman was a funny encounter. We were standing out at the Queensland junction having been picked up there once already only to tell the Singapore family who collected us that they were going the wrong way. They turned around and dropped us back where we came from. The next vehicle that came along was Norman. He was doing a u-turn right in front of us when I somehow managed to engage in a conversation through his window.

“Which way to Queensland guys” he asked, looking fairly bemused.

“This way, the way we’re going” I answered. “Do you have a bit of space?”

“Errrr, yeah hop it. You’ll have to move that junk and sit on the esky mate.”

Norman had been driving since 4am straight off the back of a flight from Vietnam. He’s a bus driver and was relocating from Darwin to Cairns. He told us how shattered he was and he’d be pulling in for the night at the next place. That happened to be Barkley homestead, the place we’d heard of and were hoping to get to…

20 minutes along the track he realised that he was doing a u-turn for a reason and whilst chatting with us along with his tiredness he had forgot to get fuel. So back we went to Three Ways for our third visit and a refuel, before turning east to Barkley Homestead as dusk drifted in.

It was dark by the time we arrived at Barkley. Easy to sneak in, lay down some cardboard and pull over the sleeping bag, helped greatly by the friendly irish trio who leant us a tarp for damp-proofing.

We were up again before the sun and waiting out front for the early hitch, hoping to catch those people trying for the longest daily distance with the brightest start to the day. We chatting with another road train guy who was not keen on taking us. There was also the cycle crew doing a 15000km tour of Oz. Obviously no room there.

Just as the sun appeared on the horizon, Norman appeared from the camp grounds. He drove straight over to where Nina and I were standing and said “just gotta get some fuel guys and I’ll pick you up.” He did his famous u-turn and returned a few minutes later looking somewhat perkier than the previous evening.

As we set off towards Queensland we felt like old friends, safe in the knowledge that we would push a long way east with Norm that day.

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After another night under the stars, this time in Hughenden (E), a flat tyre and a couple of stops in old outback towns, Norman dropped us in Townsville before he headed up to Cairns. We had spent three great days together, chatted our way across 1540km of Australia, exchanged books and emails and finally arrived on the east coast of Queensland!

A few days ago and exactly 17 months after leaving Norfolk we landed on the Australian shore of Darwin in the Northern Territory. What a relief! We are so happy that we made it – our flightless journey from England to Australia.

Since leaving Kupang in Indonesia we past through our 20th country, Timor-Leste.

It was the roughest part of the trip. Swollen seas. Wind on the nose all the way. Compromised equipment and a few unforeseen events including colliding with an unknown object in the night, a 48 hour round trip back to the Timor-Leste capital. Repairs. Despair. Expense. When we finally entered the Timor Sea things were bouncy to say the least.

On entering Australian waters we had customs fly over to warn us and to greet us. Dolphins at the hull and a stunning Aussie sunset followed before glimpsing the lighthouse at Point Fourcroy.

Thank you so so so much to Keith and Lea for having us on board Tientos for the last month. Thank you also to all the amazing people that have helped us along the way, you know who you are. And by far the biggest thank you of all – thank you Nina for being the most perfect person in the world to travel and adventure with. You are amazing!

I write from Kupang where we have landed after 9 days at sea with our hosts onboard Tientos, Keith and Lea. We’ve had a mixed bag of calm and lumpy seas, wind on the nose and not too many chances to open the sails out fully.

We apologise as we are currently unable to respond to your emails. We are onboard the Tientos with Lea and Keith bound for Darwin, Australia via Komodo and Kupang, Indonesia and and Dili, Timor-Lieste.

We are in capable and experienced hands and very much looking forward to the voyage, with our dream of flightless travel from England to Australia intact.

Another month ticks by. This time in Bali. Let’s hope that when we collect our passports from the immigration office tomorrow they have extended our visa and we are legally here. A month in Bali has been necessary. Looking for the allusive boat ride to Australia is a time consuming process.

In bali there is certainly over-populated ever-consuming pre-apocalyptic tourist cauldrons like Kuta where we’ve been based for a few weeks now (see Nina’s blogs – Stars Over Kuta and The One That Got Away), but luckily when we were not fixated on marina opportunities, we got the chance to explore the insides of Bali too.

Our fist visit to the “real” Bali was to IDEP, “a local Indonesian NGO, founded in 1999, that develops and delivers training, community programs and media related education to sustainable development through Permaculture, and Community-based Disaster Management.” Their words – best to check the website for more detailed information.

The staff there were super friendly, helpful and also let us film an interview. We bought seeds from their seed-saving programme and explored the gardens. We were so relieved to see folk making real positive change, a tough job.

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After slagging off “eco tourism” in my last blog I was dubious to visit our next destination. Not a planned visit. On a trip to some hot springs at the base of a volcano we saw a wooden sign for “Organic Farm & Stay“. We were actually looking for a place to kip for the night and also intrigued as to what they may be growing in this haven of coffee, cacao and rice. We decided to pay them a visit.

We were welcomed by Wayan and Marjan who were keen to show us around. Wayan is a natural in front of camera and he explained their concept as the film rolled. He told us how most farmers in Bali have resorted to chemical agriculture in recent years. Effective marketing from agro-chemical companies have convinced the farmers that their herbicides and pesticides are necessary along with their terminator seeds. At The Organic Farm Bali, Wayan explained that they are working with the local farmers in the village to move forward to organic only agriculture with his emphasis on “making farmers cool again”.

The tourism side of this enterprise is the home stay. They ask that people who come have a minimum stay of two nights with the idea that they spend at least one full day learning techniques from the farmers in the two adjoining properties who are producing the food for the visitors.

Whilst out on the road in inner Bali we managed to observe the “real” Bali up close and personal. Poodling on our bike, along the ridges of volcanoes, around lakes, through rice terraces and along country lanes in villages, we met with village folk selling their own produce, roasting their own coffee and harvesting their own cacao. The scenery was stunning and the landscape varied.

There are plenty of other interesting projects that we didn’t manage to see but if you are in Bali maybe you should check them out – R.O.L.E Foundation have an extensive teaching program, Green School has a worldwide reputation for sustainable education and Side by Side Organic Farm has also been recommended to us, helping Bali’s disadvantaged.

Nina and I now reside in a house near the beach. We’ve been taken in by a Japanese man, Bhakto. We made friends with him whilst couch-surfing up in Ubud and he couldn’t bare the thought of us staying in Kuta another day. We’re happy that we all share interests, for him and I, permaculture and underground music, for him and Nina, permaculture and wellbeing. Next stop Australia?

When Nina and I looked up information on how to get from Thailand to Malaysia and then onto the Indonesian islands, resources were limited. The most common answer to our question was “get a cheap flight”. So I write this blog not just about our adventures, but the logistics too, hopefully serving as a resource for others. We found this stretch of landscape fascinating, with great places to stop along the way, so if you have time – forget the plane!

Koh Phangan to Bali – 3790km. Now Australia in sight…

Koh Phangan

Our budget check in Phuket revealed that if Nina and I were to stay in Thailand any longer it had to be money free. We also felt undernourished in the permaculture hands-on department. That evening we spent hours scouring the internet for potential projects to join. We also wanted to continue south, this eliminated the many opportunities in northern Thailand. After limited responses from the WWOOF or Permaculture Global networks we looked up HelpX – £18 for a two year joint membership. It opened up more options to work on the land plus other opportunities ranging from eco-tourism to home help and teaching.

HelpX is where we found Guillaume. A young French not-quite-retired lawyer establishing an “eco-lodge” in a beautiful setting, next to the beach on the party island of Koh Phangan. We decided weeks earlier that we’d avoid this island, famous once for underground hippie trance parties, now more known for 20 thousand teens dancing to Lady GaGa with dayglow “full moon” t-shirts! However, Guillaume described his property as remote (367 stairs down from the road) with a project to establish permaculture ideas and appropriate energy technology. The other main drawcard for us was the chance to learn about and help with the efforts on biological pest management systems.

Collecting beetles in the field

In much of South East Asia the coconut palms are being attacked by the Brontispa beetle. They lay their larvae in the young shoots of coconut palms. Trees become weak and die very quickly. The beetle was introduced accidentally on imported ornamental palms from Indonesia where it has a natural predator. In affected areas breeding and release of the predating parasitoid seems to be working well with no adverse and actually very positive effects. We were concerned about the introduction of an alien species and suspected there might be some affect on the native flora and fauna but were assured that the results are positive and this technique means there is no use of chemical pesticides. We spent time understanding the breeding procedure, visiting another operation in a nearby village and assembling the materials needed to breed. Unfortunately due to the time taken for larvae to hatch there was no chance to complete a full cycle of the program before our 3 weeks on the island were up. We did however gain valuable experience in the procedure.

The parasitoid breeding program

Our attention to the beetle project also took a back seat as Guillaume’s water needs understandably became as important to him as anything else. The last of the rainy season downpours finished early this year and his spring began to reflect that. We gave advice on effective techniques to hold water in the landscape – use all catchment, store water high in the property, spread it over the longest distance, affecting the most life as passively as possible. We spoke about earth moving techniques to capture and hold large bodies of water and potentially rehumidify his property. Guillaume also has large roofs with no tanks and a lot of leaky pipes.

Guillaume explaining his water resources

Unfortunately, some peoples’ idea of eco-tourism promotes aesthetics as more important than careful design, sustainability or the order of permanence. Guillaume was not particularly open to our design ideas which represent designing for water security as top of the list. He had his own ideas, and although we can offer advice, others must walk the path for themselves before the realisation of what can be achieved using PC design. Another great lesson – I have to be the change, not preach the change. My attention turns once again to Australia. Nina and I talk more that evening about our aspirations there.

On the road again

Whilst I understand that there are many incredible projects using real permaculture design across the globe, I am coming to realise that they are few and far between. The knowledge still has a long way to travel. I wish in the last months we had dug out more of them but our journey has become rather one directional of late, more of a mission to get home above time to explore.

I have seen many examples of projects using the word “permaculture” like we see the word “eco” banded around for credibility. “We have a permaculture garden” used in place of “we grow food” or “we grow organic veg”. I’m happy that the term is becoming heard, as it leads people to ask more questions. It’s only by asking more questions that we find more answers. It’s then that we realise that permaculture is a design system, a set of ethics and principles that integrate not just our vegetable garden but the choices we make in life too. In future I will do more research on the projects I choose to volunteer.

Aside from my disillusionment of peoples’ understanding of permaculture, we had a fantastic time with Guillaume, full of great conversation, enjoyable evening meals on the shoreside deck. Garden and Rice paddy creation. Exploration of the island’s jungle and a chance to meet other expats trying new ventures in a land far from home. Oh yes, and the little boat trip at sea!

Out in the little boat

We spent many days deliberating in Koh Phangan about our on ward route to Australia. I wrote to at least 30 shipping companies asking for passage with them from Singapore. We contacted yachts in Malaysia through HelpX. We contacted people through Couchsurfing who work for shipping agents in Singapore. We even asked about cancellations for cruise ships (just through curiosity). We applied for positions on ships and cargo vessels, wrote to Marinas and generally exhausted all options before deciding that our best chance of reaching Australia by boat was to get to the furthest place that we can, using public transport, and try from there. Many other people’s last port of call too – Bali. From Bali there will surely be people crossing that little stretch of water to Darwin!

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Koh Phangan to Georgetown

Getting off Koh Phangan island and onto a train to Malaysia was easy and should be from anywhere in Thailand. It’s cheaper to purchase your ticket in advance at a government ticket booking office yourself. We left from Surat Thani which is a popular travel junction heading south. There is no railway booking office on Koh Phangan and so an agent was necessary, and maybe easier, as the ticket includes transport to the ferry, the ferry ticket itself, and a local bus connection to the train station, plus your train ticket. Total cost of ticket – 1450TB (£33) to Butterworth, the jumping off point to Penang’s Georgetown, in Malaysia. This is the furtherest point south that a ticket can be booked from Thailand.

Penang ferry

We were on the 1.26am train and bedded down upon boarding. We reached the Malaysian border control by 6am. They stamped us in with a free 3 month tourist visa and after a little delay changing the chugger, we reached Butterworth by midday. The station was a short walk to the ferry terminal that takes you on a 30 minute crossing to Penang island (about 10p). We stayed in Georgtown for a couple of nights, mostly to try it’s famous food. Indian cuisine meets Chinese in a magic blend of spiced curries, sweets, funky deserts and rotis! We explored the manageable, likeable city on foot, picking up a bargain pair of new shorts at a carboot sale, and taking a few photos around the old colonial part of town.

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Georgetown to Kuala Lumpur

Travel down to Kuala Lumpur was also super easy, taking the ferry back over the water (this time free) straight to the bus terminal. Ignore anyone who approaches you for a ticket and find the bus you need. Once you have, ask someone on the bus the cost before giving your money to a conductor onboard on the driver. This saves you paying extra for the ticket which should be 32MYR (£6.50) The buses run every 20 minutes or so and take 4 or 5 hours with wide seats and a good recline. I think both Nina and I got a bit of shut-eye.

Fat recliner!

Nina had lined us up a coachsurf in KL with a very interesting and generous family. We were welcomed with open arms by Reeza, Shukreen and Kanoa. We chatted for a while up on the 19th floor of their tower block before they whisked us out and treated us to some traditional Malay food. We truly wished we had more time in KL to spend with those guys as we shared so much in common and were so fascinated by their interests in media, conservation and faith.

Our KL family

The next day a big day out on foot was all we needed to explore the major sites of the city. Cities seem to wear us down quite quickly at this stage on our trip, but the food was out of this world and the botanical gardens seemed a world away but only a small walk from the centre of town.

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KUala Lumpur to JAkarta

We boarded the night train from KL at 23.00 to travel to Johor Bahru, having purchased our tickets the previous day at the central station – 39MYR (£8.40). Johor is on the southern Malay peninsular and if you depart for Indo from here it saves entering Singapore. We also found out that the the ferry over to Batam island was cheapest from here.

On arriving at Johor in the morning you can take the number 123 bus from right outside. Tell the driver you need the ZON ferry terminal and jump off there. No need to buy any ferry tickets in advance for this leg of the journey as some websites suggest. Ask anyone where the ticket office is and buy your 69MYR (£15) ticket for the next departing ferry to Batam Center. Bare in mind that although this 90 minute journey seems like another island off the coast of Malaysia you are actually entering Indonesia. We did consider buying a return ferry ticket as some countries ask for proof that you are leaving before issuing you a tourist visa. In this instance we risked it to save money. Nobody cared less and as long as you have your $25 to hand they wave you in with a friendly smile and a 30 day stamp.

Batan Center to Sekupang bus…

Now in Indonesia and presuming you’re heading straight over to Java you will need to get to the infamous Pelni ferry ticket office. Ignore the taxi drivers and walk straight out of the ferry terminal. Ask for the local bus to Sekupang, price 3,000IDR (20p). This takes you over to the other side of the island. Jump out and ask anyone where the Pelni ticket office is. It’s not at the huge metal shed from where the ship departs. Instead it’s hidden up a hill at the end of the road. We opted for the “Economik” tickets which were 269,000IDR (£18) and purchasing them was simple. No need to worry about this in advance as the ship holds 3,000 people (and probably 3million cockroaches) as there is always room for one more!

The holding pen

We waited in the “holding pen” for a few hours as it was not clear when the ship would leave. It was clear, however, that although there are some “first class” cabins available, this was a journey for the working class of Indonesia. Mostly families, some looked like they were moving house even. When the flood gates finally opened there was a stampede towards the boat as guys ran past with 40inch TV’s stapped to their heads and Mum’s dragging kids, packed lunches tucked under their arm. We arrived on 4th deck with the other sardines and packed ourselves in for the ride. 36 hours, sleepless, dirty, alive with infestations, screaming TV’s, continual chain smoking, 24/7 fleuro lights and mostly unbearable humidity. This trip is not for the faint hearted. We made some nice friends though and enjoyed some time in the crew area sharing family photo’s. We later heard that for double the cost you can take a private cabin.

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JAKARTA to BALI

We arrived early into Tanjung Priok harbour in Jakarta, 5.00am, following the crowds, asking occasionally, the way to the bus terminal. From here buses go to either “Kota”, the central station, or “Senan”, another popular departure point. We headed for Senan on the “local bus” for 20,000IDR (£1.30). I think we paid double as our bags took up a seat! We heard that you can take most onward trains to Yogya from Senan…

Senan station

No seats were available when we arrived at Senan station and given how wrung out we were it was probably a good thing. We sat with a very patient young fella, with great English, to figure out our next move. Everything pointed towards a guest house for the night, a little exploration of Jakarta and a train leaving tomorrow at a reasonable time. That’s exactly what we did and booked our tickets with the helpful chap for the 13.00 to Yogyakarta the next day – 90,000IDR (£6). We’d been told “Yogya” was a great place to break the journey east with the impressive Borobudur temple complex and surrounding volcanoes.

Volcanoes from the train window

The train ride through the Java countryside was spectacular. Rice fields tumbled down the hillsides, backdropped by Volcano peaks and jungle. I thought we would see more palm plantations as described in the shocking documentary GREEN but I was pleased to see people out on the land using no mechanised techniques.

Hand cultivated rice fields

The onward train journey from Yogya also meandered east through mostly rural landscape, arriving late in the evening in Banyuwangi, once again booked independently at the train station – 34,000IDR (£2.50) – making a 13 hour train journey very reasonably priced. It was late when we arrived in Banyuwangi and we took a room before a simple ferry crossing the next day onto Bali island to complete the 3790km journey. Ferry ticket 6,000IDR (40p).

BALI

We are now in Bali making regular visits to the Marina looking for onward travel to Australia, hopefully completing the last stage of our journey without flight. It’s a long shot. So far we have had encouraging days at the Marina followed by times of dashed hopes, watching fellow Australians leave port for Darwin. Maybe someone will take us before our visa runs out on the 16th May. Hopefully our poster will work, wish us luck…

What Bill says…

"Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Without permanent agriculture their is no possibility of a stable social order". - Bill Mollison

Another definition…

"Permaculture is the harmonious integration of all life kingdoms into agriculturally productive ecosystems and socially just environments producing sound economic outcomes through systems management. It is a regenerative design science reflecting patterns in nature that seeks to build interconnections allowing for energy efficiency and abundance of yield" treeyopermaculture.com

Robert Hart was doing it…

“The only basic and comprehensive answer to the colossal harm that our present industrial system is causing to the global environment – harm that could lead to the extermination of all life on earth – is to replace it with a sustainable system – geared largely to the non-polluting, life-enhancing products of the living world”
Robert A de J Hart ‘Forest Gardening’

What my teacher says…

"To do the most good for the greatest number of beings for the longest time possible with the least effort" Richard Perkins